Making weight

reality · White Belt

Hello, was just wondering what i should expect in years to come when my metabolism slows and it becomes harder to make weight. Obviously as one gets older it becomes alot harder to shed fat, as many pro boxers experience. Does this also mean it will become easier to build muscle mass? or is this just wishful thinking?

tallgeese · Red Belt

Ok, I've lived this one so I'll give you a heads up from my experiance. Bear in mind that everyone's physiology is different so everyone will deal with this in a slightly different way.

First, we'll deal with the muscle mass issue. This really depends on how old you are. Early 20's seems to see an increase in the ability to put on mass, this decreases thoughout the later 20's. However, that's not to say that great gains can be made past that. Bear in mind that putting on muscle is more about nutrition, supplimentation, and training than anything else. But, once you get into the mid 30's, stacking on signifigant gains becomes more difficult. Your diet will have to tighten down considerably.

Now on to the core of your post, the ability to cut weight. Here we go to diet again. Yes, cutting weight is more difficult as you age but by no means impossible. I found that towards the end of my amature career, I was really needing to be more strict with my diet between training phases than I was earlier on. If you take care to keep you natural weight lower and closer to your fight weight, your cutting phase will happen easier. Sometimes, as was my case, this can mean a fairly signifigant lifestyle change. This tends to mean that you have to start cutting calories in a less signifigant way. The increased training time leading up to a fight will often go a long way to dropping those pounds prior to shaving out food.

On the happy side of things, if you've conditioned your body to reamin in shape, and train regularly in the off season, you do tend to cut easier. I can't scientifically explain this, it's just an observance from being around gyms for a while.

Remember, a lot of this training thing is a head game. If you can apply your mind to it, you can still get results. As you get older however, you may need to be more realistic in your approach to training and cutting. Expect to take longer to lose poundage and longer to recover after you reach your target weight. This means you'll have to consider you post-weigh in nutrition and liquid intake very closely to acheive optimal performance the next day.

It boils down to- If you plan of fighting as your metabolism slows, plan on budgeting more time to cut and recover and keep your diet cleaner so you have less to get rid of come fight time.

Just my observations as I went along and things that worked for me. Others may vary.

ps1 · Black Belt

As the human body ages it begins to undergo several physiological changes. In your case, the one to look out for is called Sarcopenia. It is the age related loss of muscle tissue. Because muscle cells increase metabolism, you begin to gain weight (fat weight) if your diet does not change to match the loss in muscle mass. Every pound of muscle has the ability to metabolize about 50 calories per day. Imagine losing 10 pounds of muscle. That's the loss of the ability to metabolize 500 calories per day! With the combination of muscle loss and weight gain also comes a loss in balance. Yikes!! Life is bad right?

Wrong...it's this easy to combat sarcopenia...Be sure to get hooked up with a quality resistance training workout. Most gyms offer this service. Sometimes there is a small fee associated...but a quality exercise physiologist will do this for you. In addition...see a nutritionist and get advice on how you should adjust your eating as you age. The fees are minimal in return for the long term independance you will retain.

If you have any more specific questions just PM me. It's what I do for a living!

Bill

PS: To answer your question more directly...the ability to cut weight will be dependant on your ability to maintain your current muscle masss and adjust your diet accordingly as you get older.
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tallgeese · Red Belt

Nice to see the scientific side of it. Thanks.

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